Armenia

Alternate uses: see Armenia (disambiguation).

The Republic of Armenia is a landlocked country in southern Transcaucasia, between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, with Turkey to the west and Georgia to the north, and sharing borders with Azerbaijan in the east, and Iran and the Naxcivan exclave of Azerbaijan in the south.

Hayastani Hanrapetut'yun

(In Detail) (Full size)

National motto:

Official language Armenian

Capital Yerevan

Capital's coordinates 40° 16' N, 44° 34' E

Largest City Yerevan

President Robert Kocharian

Prime minister Andranik Markaryan

Area
- Total
- % water Ranked 138th
29'800 km²
4.7%

Population
- Total (2003 est)
- Density Ranked 128th
3'326'448
112/km²

Independence
From Soviet Union
September 23, 1991

Currency Dram (AMD)

Time zone UTC +5

National anthem Mer Hayrenik (Our Fatherland)

Internet TLD .AM

Calling Code 374

Table of contents

1 History
2 Politics
3 Provinces
4 Geography
5 Economy
6 Demographics
7 Culture
8 Miscellaneous topics
9 External links and references

History

Main article: History of Armenia

Armenia was incorporated into Russian Empire in 1828 and the USSR in 1920. Armenian leaders remain preoccupied by the long conflict with Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh, a primarily Armenian-populated exclave, assigned to Soviet Azerbaijan in the 1920s by Moscow. Armenia and Azerbaijan began fighting over the exclave in 1988; the struggle escalated after both countries attained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. By May 1994, when a cease-fire took hold, Armenian forces held not only Nagorno-Karabakh but also a significant portion of Azerbaijan proper.

The economies of both sides have been hurt by their inability to make substantial progress toward a peaceful resolution, and the Turkish economic blockade of Armenia.

Music of Armenia

**Holidays**
Date	English Name	Local Name	Remarks
21 September	Referendum Day		National holiday (Day of independence in 1991)

Miscellaneous topics

External links and references

CIA World Factbook 2000 and the 2003 U.S. Department of State website
Extensive Armenia info and links (map includes the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh)
The History of the Ancient Near East
Armenianhistory.info
Armenian Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Library of Congress Portals on the World - Armenia

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